Tag Archives: Ice Skating

Don’t forget: tomorrow night the Georgetown Waterfront Ice Rink will celebrate its grand opening. Yes, it’s been open already for a couple weeks, but tomorrow is a belated party. It starts at 4:00 pm. Here are the details:

MRP Realty, the owners of the Washington Harbour complex, announce yesterday that they are beginning construction to convert their fancy new fountain into an ice rink for the winter.

From the release:

The 11,800-square-foot Washington Harbour Ice Rink — larger than the rinks at Rockefeller Center in New York City and the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden in Washington — will be ready to welcome its first skaters before Thanksgiving. In addition to offering open skating, discounts to college students and the opportunity to skate with Santa Claus, the rink will accommodate parties and special events, such as birthdays, family gatherings and corporate events.

11,800 is more than two-thirds the size of a full NHL ice rink. The release points out that the rink will be larger than Rockefeller Center’s and the National Gallery of Art’s. It will also be larger than the two other outdoor rinks close by DC: Pentagon Row and Silver Spring. At 7,200 square feet, the Silver Spring rink was cited as the largest outdoor rink between DC and Baltimore; so the Georgetown rink may end up being the largest outdoor rink in the whole greater metropolitan area. (New York being New York has to have the last word though. Real New Yorkers know not to use Rockefeller Center but rather the gigantic Wollman Rink in Central Park, which is a whopping 30,000 square feet). Continue reading →

As the days finally get colder, GM starts to think back to his childhood days skating on a tiny frozen pond behind his friend’s house in Connecticut. (The fact that the pond was only about 25 feet across helps explain why GM never really learned to stop on skates; he hardly had room to start). It was this nostalgia for outdoor skating that led him to wonder: why not build a waterfront rink? GM’s question was answered in the affirmative shortly afterwards when MRP Realty announced plans to bring an ice rink to the Washington Harbour.

But that won’t get built in time for this winter. And what if you want to skate on a natural body of frozen water? Well we’ve already got one of those: the C & O Canal.

While it hasn’t been cold nearly enough for the canal to freeze yet this winter, by late January, February at the latest, it should ice over. And guess what? You are allowed to skate on it if you want. GM just assumed the NPS would prohibit such a fun activity since, lets face it, they can kinda be killjoys. But according to C & O Canal National Historic Park:

It’s that time of year and weather when Park visitors may go ice skating.

As part of an occasional series, GM stops to ask “Why Not?” Today he asks: Why not set up an ice rink at the waterfront?

The idea came to GM over the holiday as he was skating in an open air ice rink along Long Island Sound on Christmas Day. It was such a beautiful scene and even on a day like that, it drew a crowd.

In DC it is not as simple as throwing down a tarp and flooding it (as can be done up north). It can take a lot of technology. So maybe (rather, probably) GM is dreaming here. But who doesn’t think it would be an amazing scene to see people gathered by the Potomac skating? Take a trip to any of the other outdoor ice rinks in the area (e.g. the National Gallery of Art rink, Pentagon Row, Silver Spring). They’re packed this time of year. Think of how many people would come down to the waterfront to skate. Popular and wholesome all at once! Continue reading →